The time to invest in a
technology is when the technology is truly transformative, which mobility is considered to be at this
time.

The expanding coverage of LTE is
frequently topping news headline due to popularity of wireless devices and the
expanding BYOD movement across corporate America. In an article written by CTIA-The
Wireless Association, the
wireless industry has been valued at $195.5 billion dollars, more than publishing, agriculture, hospitality, and
air transportation industries. Organizations are experiencing an increased
viewer base of their e-marketing websites through wireless devices, enabling IT
to expand platforms to be mobile device compatible. As technological advances
inevitably shrink computing power and give Americans more bang-for-their-buck
on a smaller device, wireless technology will remain an increasingly part of our
future. Users of mobile devices may decide to only connect through a LAN or WAN
for internet connectivity, but LTE’s promising bandwidth capabilities will
inadvertently cause higher cellular bills. Face it, the faster users can upload
and download bytes, the more they will upload and download in a shorter time
frame. AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint will fight out who will become
the nation’s best LTE wireless network in terms of bandwidth and reach. Surprisingly,
T-Mobile has forecast correctly to become a player in the LTE marketplace. As
these carriers are competing with each other to provide incredibly fast
download and upload speeds (AT&T
has averaged 17.4Mbps download speeds in 15 different markets), consumers
are reaping the benefits of faster capabilities while paying relatively the
same costs. T-Mobile had begun investing in LTE (at the time, it was known as
the next generation wireless technology) prior to LTE’s release by investing in
their infrastructure and capacity. Sprint’s cellular network, although
laggard in its LTE offering, remains popular to consumers because of the
unlimited data usage for a low cost. However, only time will tell which carrier
will become the nation’s best LTE network.

The Use Case

Small business and enterprises
are experiencing an increased need for wireless devices, whether cellular or
tablet. Argued in
an article written by Mani Zarrehparvar on why Mobile is the new IT,
enterprises should look to complete the following: mobilize additional work
applications, mobilize more workers, mobilize different functions of the
enterprise, and utilize mobility as a recruiting tool. For example,
pharmaceutical companies have equipped sales representatives with iPads in
order to strengthen presentations to customers. This organization fully equipped
their sales representative with all the necessary applications needed to fully
manage a customer so that their employee never had to sit behind a legacy
desktop computer. The most substantial benefit mobility provides is that it
enables employees to be connected to the enterprise network when they are not
physically at work.

Benefits

A major part of any change in an
IT department to consider is the adoption rate: the time it takes employees to
incorporate an application and technology in their everyday work environment. Mani
intelligently states that mobility is “The New IT” for enterprises because of
smart phone, tablet, and mobile app popularity. Wireless device technology is
popular among the current and next generation of workers. Implementation of such
enterprise mobility programs will be favored by those employed, thus reducing
the overall time to adoption.

On average, enterprises spend
$120 a month per employee on mobility just to enable employees to have access
to work and personal data. As 4G replaces 3G, and future wireless technology
replaces 4G, the argument can be made that it may be cost effective to build an
internal wireless infrastructure rather rely on a carrier’s cellular network to
provide the required bandwidth. As Mani’s article suggests, enabling employees
with access to enterprise functions through mobile enterprise applications can
provide increased productivity, increased efficiency, increased utilization of
the device itself, and provide a stronger business case overall for
implementation. A recent study done by iPass Global Mobile Workforce Report
found that the average mobile-enabled employee puts in an extra eight working hours per week. However, a
lot of risks still need to be answered in regards to security and network
storage capability.

Source One has vast experience in
strategically sourcing and optimizing wireless accounts regardless of our
clients industry. Source One has been successful in analyzing mobile devices of
all types, including tablets and cellular devices. Source One leverages its
historical pricing database to ensure clients are receiving competitive rates
and has achieved a considerable amount of savings across all clients through
contract negotiation. The telecommunications industry is like a foreign
language to most organizations; they may understand a few vocabulary words but
a large part of the language remains unknown. If your enterprise or small
business is equipped for mobility, do they know what they are paying for and
why they are paying for it? When a device is removed from an employee, is there
someone who ensures it also is removed from billing? Do you find yourself
asking, what is this surcharge for that I keep seeing on my bill? Or why am I
paying this much for a simple cellular device?

How Can We Help You?

Source One is fluent in telecommunications.
The majority of clients that buy wireless services are found to underutilize
total minutes, text message, and data packages across large user bases. Carriers
offer these additional packages because they are often misused and they
generate substantial revenue; however, if packages are optimized correctly, they
can reduce overall monthly spending on wireless service substantially and
alleviate economic pains while enabling your mobile workforce. We have the
resources and expertise to analyze, negotiate, and review the contract or
master services agreement you initially skimmed through while auditing your
previous monthly invoices to pursue historical credits for those hard to find
billing errors. The major telecommunications players can be hard to deal with
at times, but Source One is here to help.

Strategic Sourceror

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This site is owned and operated by Source One Management Services, LLC; the leading consultancy providing strategic sourcing resources, procurement advisory consulting and procurement support services to hundreds of companies.

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About Source One

Source One is a leading procurement services provider. Since 1992, Source One has been providing companies in all industries with sourcing services including BPO, Benchmarking, Spend Analysis, Category Support, and RFX Management.